Article
Teacher’s Pet Online: APH Online Quiz Tool
This is an accessible test creation and administration program.
Teacher’s Pet Online is a free, accessible tool to create and share practice materials, quizzes and tests. The tool works with your platform’s screen reader and is compatible with a braille display. Teachers can create their own tests. This online program is similar to Google Forms but designed to be easy to use for students who are visually impaired or blind or for teachers with visual impairments to create and monitor students’ scores.
The Home Page includes:
- Take a Test
- Create a Test
- Edit a Test
- Import and Export Tests
- Contact Us
Under Take a Test, there are currently 12 sample tests available ranging from listening to an animal sound and naming the animal braille letters, various levels of spelling, State Capitals and Windows Shortcut keys. As you create your own tests or import tests, these tests will be added here.
Image 2: Screen shot of a spelling fill in the blank question with a Play and Stop button. When activated, the Play button is an audio file which says the blank word, then reads the entire sentence with the blank word included.
Create a Test enables the teacher to create create multiple choice, fill in the blank, true or false, or essay type quizzes. Images and audio can also be added. Creating questions and answers is a simple procedure!
Edit a Test enables the teacher to make changes to the tests. Tests can be password protected and only edited after the password is given.
Import/Export Tests: When I created a test on my iPad, it was automatically available under Take a Test. At any time, the test can be emailed or shared with a student using the Export Test. The student then Imports the test to his device.
Grading the Test
It is important to note that the student must complete the test and then select Submit. If a student stops in the middle of the test, it is not possible to save or to submit a partial test. When the test is submitted, the student must select Email Results. The test results is emailed directly to the teacher, who associated her email with the test.
Image 3: Screenshot of the graded First Grade Spelling 1 test. Questions 1-15 are in a table with headings: Correct? (Question) Number, Question, Correct Answer, Your Answer, Explanation, and Weight. The correct answers have a green background and the wrong answer has a pink background.
Note: If the student does not select Submit or does not select Email Results and exists that specific test (goes back to the Home screen), the answers are permanently lost. There is no way to save or return to the answers.
Image 4: Screenshot of graded, teacher created Riddle 1 Quiz with three questions. Email address is added by the teacher who created this game. Tester ID (can be any number, name or screen name used to identify which student answered these questions), and Email Results button. Main Menu button is in the top right; if student selects Main Menu before emailing the results, the answers are lost.
Screen Reader Accessibility
While reviewing Teacher’s Pet Online, I used VoiceOver on my iPad with gestures or Bluetooth keyboard commands. VoiceOver worked as expected without any glitches. The screen layout was simple and easy to navigate with gestures and/or Bluetooth keyboard commands.
Low Vision Accessibility
The screen layout is uncluttered, high contrast colors were used on specific buttons. A few places have smaller text than ideal such as the name of the text in the popup button, but the actual popup menu text was larger. If a student requires zoom, to see the question or his/her answer, when moving to the next question, the zoom focus does not stay on the question area. The student has to scroll the screen in order to move back to the question/answer area.
Comparison
Teacher’s Pet Online is similar to other quiz apps such as Google Forms. Teacher’s Pet Online is simple, accessible app for students, designed with accessibility in mind. The layout is easy to see and navigate for students with low vision and/or students who rely on a screen reader. This quiz application is especially beneficial for students who would benefit from a simple layout. It is a simple process to create quizzes; although, there is a potential for students to complete a quiz and lose the results if they do not submit and email the results. It would be nice to be able to pause, save or return to the quiz. I’d suggest the ability to submit and email answers even if the student has not completed the quiz. At the very least, if a student tries to go back to the Home screen without submitting and emailing, to at least receive a popup confirming that the student will lose his answers. Another option is to dim the Home button when on the graded page, until the email results has already been selected.
For students/teachers who want a more robust quiz application, other quiz applications may offer more types of questions and more robust grading system and analysis designed for classroom teachers with 30+ students in a class.
Resources
By Diane Brauner
